Indiana Uses Emotion and Clutch Shooting to beat the Cats
It’s time for me to eat a little crow. I have to give it up to the Hoosier basketball team, not the fans, for what was an exhilarating game. I took my shots at Tom Crean and Cody Zeller, but both of those guys earned a fantastic win at home against a very good Kentucky basketball team. I am happy for Crean, who is a great coach and seems to be a good guy.
The Cats hit a perfect storm when they came into Assembly Hall that consisted of emotion, belief in victory and a team that was due to win. The Hoosiers knocked down some huge threes in the second half and even staved off a Wildcat run that almost won the game.
After my initial depression, I must say that I am proud of the Wildcats. They played in two straight emotional games against two very talented teams and came away 1-1, a one point victory and a one point loss. Coming away 2-0 from two game stretch that with a young team would have been extremely difficult to pull off at this point in the season. There are many good things to take away from this win; Marquis Teague’s wake up call, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist was Mr. Everything again, Doron Lamb’s continued scoring blitz and Darius Miller rising to the occasion once again.
I’m happy for the Hoosiers. They battled and they deserved the win. The IU fans can still take a flying leap off of a cliff.
Xavier and Cincinnati Suspensions a Joke
If that brawl wasn’t enough to make you sick, you should have stuck around and listened to the press conference where Xavier’s Tu Holloway pretty much stated that his team would fight again and that they were all a bunch of “gangsters” that would never back down from a fight.
And to make matters worse, both coaches talked tough and acted like they were going to come down hard on their players. Here is a link to all of the suspensions and fall out, but the most shocking is that Cincy’s Yancy Gates, who threw the worst of the punches, was given only a six game suspention despite the fact that he looks as if he is guilty of assaulting another player. He deserves to be removed from the team and kicked out of his university.
Upsets Galore
#2 Ohio State went down to #13 Kansas. OSU was without Jared Sullinger, but had enough gumption to stick around throughout most of the game. Kansas ended up losing point guard Tyshawn Taylor to a torn meniscus. Taylor is out indefinitely.
#20 Memphis was defeated at home 76-72 by an undefeated Murray State team. the State of Kentucky should now have three ranked teams in the top 25 with the Racers, the Cats and the Cards. We will see how the voting shakes out later today.
Ranked teams Gonzaga and Creighton also lost. North Carolina, Duke, Pitt and Texas A&M all avoided near upsets and all of their games were within 10 points or less from losing to un-ranked opposition.
Oops
Let’s just say the fans in Memphis weren’t too happy with the PA announcer as he accidentally calls John Calipari’s name during the introductions. We know they were secretly wishing Cal would walk back out onto that floor with his #1 recruiting classes and deep tourney runs. Sorry Tiger fans, ain’t gonna happen. Enjoy losing to Murray State and conference USA.
Tebowed
This was unreal. Again.
Say what you want about Tim Tebow, but he has this team believing in something. They were not supposed to be leading their division. They are. They were not supposed to be in the playoff hunt. They are. They were not supposed to have a winning record. They are 8-5. I am convinced this team would not be in this position with Kyle Orton at quarterback. The defense of the Broncos and the kicker deserve a ton of credit, but the boost and the confidence that Tim Tebow gives the entire team cannot be overlooked.
That’s it for me this morning. Come back at 4 PM as I break down the AP Top 25 as I look at where the Cats land after the IU upset. I am thinking 2 to 4 sounds about right. If Louisville is ranked above Kentucky, be prepared for a rant for the ages. You’ve been warned.
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